May 19, 2025 • 26 mins
Bonus Episode – Significant Recruiting w/ Kevin Brooks: What College Coaches Are Really Looking For
In this Significant Recruiting bonus episode, Matt Rogers is joined by Kevin Brooks, the legendary Head BaseballCoach at Angelo State University. With over 800 career wins, seven College World Series appearances, and a 2023 national championship, Coach Brooks brings decades of experience and insight into what it really takes to be recruited at the college level.
In this episode, Coach Brooks shares:
- What he looks for first when evaluating a recruit
- Why honesty and fit matter more than hype
- How parents can help — and hurt — the process
- The role communication plays in building trust with a coaching staff
If you're a high school athlete or a parent navigating the recruiting journey, this episode is full of real talk and practical advice from one of the best in the game.
📬 These bonus episodes will soon be subscriber-only, so make sure to follow and subscribe today to keep getting the full experience.
🎧 Visit CoachMattRogers.com for free resources, recruiting tools, and your copy of Significant Recruiting: The Playbook for Prospective College Athletes.
Learn more and connect with Matt Rogers here: https://linktr.ee/coachmattrogers
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:06):
Welcome to SignificantRecruiting with Matt Rogers, the
bonus edition of the SignificantCoaching Podcast where we go
deeper into the recruiting sideof the game.
Today I'm joined again by CoachKevin Brooks, head baseball
coach at Angelo State, and oneof the most respected names in
Division two Baseball with over800 career wins and a national
championship under his belt.
(00:27):
Coach Brooks knows what he'slooking for in a recruit, and
today he breaks it down for us.
Before we get started, a quickreminder.
These significant recruitingbonus episodes will eventually
be for subscribers only, so ifyou're enjoying them, make sure
to subscribe today so you don'tmiss out.
And as always, visit coach mattrogers.com for free Tools, the
(00:47):
weekly newsletter, recruitingresources, blog posts, and your
copy of significant recruiting,the playbook for prospective
college athletes.
Alright, let's get after it.
Here's Coach Kevin Brookstalking recruiting.
Coach, thanks so much for beinga part of this my book's called
(01:09):
Significant Recruiting as acollege coach for so long, and
then I was a college Scout for10 years and I worked with about
4,000 families just onrecruiting and trying to get
their mind right.
The idea of significant for mewas.
Taking mere chance out of theequation.
There's a lot of coaches that'llsay, Matt, if they're good
enough, somebody's gonna findthem.
(01:30):
I wanna remove that from kidsbecause I don't want'em just
playing baseball.
I want'em going somewhere wherethere's a coach they love.
There's an academic program thatcan help them with their future.
So for me, that significance isreally having a plan and a
strategy to do it right for youas an individual.
You and I have both seen plentyof kids that were good enough to
play division one, but reallywhere they were gonna blossom
(01:50):
was D two or NI or D three,because they needed a smaller
environment.
They needed that one-on-onecoaching.
They needed more of that familyatmosphere.
Do you have some corephilosophies on how you wanna
recruit every year?
I would say our corephilosophies are, what type of
player we want.
That's the biggest thing.
But on how I think it comes backagain to relationships.
(02:14):
And so also where we arelocated, okay, so we're three
hours away from anywhere inTexas.
And so when we go recruiting,it's a day.
So if we go in the spring,that's a day we miss practice,
with our current players.
Summer wise we're gone for fouror five days at a time, but we
(02:38):
do not get as much personalevaluation as we would like to
make decisions upon thesepeople, and for me, as I've
gotten older, unfortunately alot of the people I have relied
upon throughout my career haveeither retired or passed away,
Yeah.
my connections.
But it's always become peoplethat you trust, word of mouth,
(03:04):
and that goes a long way, Thesame people that have, helped us
with really good players.
And so that's the biggest thing.
Then obviously we go to gamesand we see player X and go, Ooh,
really like him, talk to hiscoach, et cetera.
(03:25):
And maybe he becomes somebodytoo.
And then the third way we dorun, showcase camps.
For players that are interestedin Angelo State, come, we're
gonna do the pro tryout deal,but we're gonna play games too.
'cause we wanna see you play.
Love that.
Because a lot of guys that aregood baseball players that are
(03:48):
not good showcase guys.
Yeah.
Good showcase guy, but maybe notthat good a player and but they
can get around us.
Coaches and Sierra campus, allthat stuff.
I would say on our roster we'llprobably get five guys a year
from that.
I'm assuming you carry, whatabout 40, right?
(04:08):
About 40.
We're hoping, maybe get it downto 35, but, we're at 43 this
year.
Are you a 50 50 guy?
Pitchers in, PL in?
Yes.
we want everyday guys, wegenerally don't want more than
20.
So we won't be too deepeverywhere.
three catchers, and then youknow you're gonna have some
injuries.
So you always want to be able toenter squad, which that
(04:30):
requires, you have at least 16.
Eight and eight.
and then 20 pitchers.
Okay.
And having that extra four orfive that makes up for those
injuries and Right.
Class time that may, you maylose.
And yes, being able to scrimmagewhen you want a scrimmage and
always having that, having thebodies right and the arms.
Absolutely.
Yep.
I love that.
(04:51):
Let's dive into camps.
Okay.
I feel like I am constantlytalking to moms and dads about
camps.
'cause my philosophy is.
You go to a camp for one of tworeasons.
You either go to a camp becauseyou know they're really good
teachers and you're gonna get,you're gonna get better.
You're gonna learn how to playthe game, and you're gonna get
(05:12):
better hitting, fielding,throwing the ball.
The second reason is you reallylike that school.
You can see yourself going toschool and getting education
there, and you want to putyourself in front of that
coaching staff.
Get coached by them.
See if there's a relationshipthere.
See if there's something theylike.
See if you can learn somethingand build some answers.
(05:34):
How many kids will come to yourID camps?
we try to cap it at 60.
Okay.
so that way, so we have a uniquesetup where we go do, we've got
a big old intramural fieldbehind.
Nice.
And we do all the metric stuffthere.
And then we play a game with twoteams.
(05:54):
So we try four teams of 15 is,and anyway, so that's we're
about 60, that it's, it seemsideal.
I had a mother and father, theywere talking to me about helping
their younger son with beingrecruited for baseball.
And they go, we, a kid was latein his junior year.
Nobody was talking to him.
Good player.
(06:15):
And mom and dad go, we don'tknow what the problem is.
Our other son got an offer atthe end of his sophomore year
and that was it, and I go how,tell me how the offer worked.
He go we went to the camp atUniversity of Louisville.
And he was walking off the fieldand the coach came up and said,
Hey, we're gonna offer you.
we're gonna pay half education,half baseball and we're gonna
take care of you.
And that was it.
And that's where he went.
(06:36):
And I go, mom, how many otherkids were at that camp?
And she goes, Lela, she lookedat her husband and she goes
about a hundred and 160, Ithink.
And I go, how many other kidsgot that same offer?
And they looked at each otherand I go, as far as we know, our
son was the only one.
I go, that's what you have tounderstand about recruiting
right.
You gotta understand there'sonly so many kids that are gonna
(06:57):
get an offer at a camp, if any,at all.
Because I would imagine of that60 that come to your camp, there
might be 25 that you're like,I'm not sure they could play
dead in the Cowboy movie, letalone play baseball at our
level.
You're generally pulling asidetwo, maybe three, five.
If five, if it's great.
How are you and your staffdealing with 60 kids?
(07:19):
Because how long will a camplast?
we start at 11.
We're generally done.
We're done when we're done.
But generally anywhere four tofive o'clock.
So you're spending five to sixhours with these kids?
Six kids.
Talk to me like a parent that'sgoing through this for the first
time.
What can I expect from avisibility standpoint for my kid
(07:40):
in terms of you and your staff,the recruiters of your program?
Working with my kid, gettingtheir eyes on'em and getting a
true valuation in five hours.
and that's always such, I getthose questions right?
When people call,'cause they'relike, is that just a money grab
or Yeah.
Whatever.
And I'm like we do make moneyoff of it.
However, we really are lookingfor players.
(08:02):
Now is your son.
Good enough.
And I don't know the answer'cause I hadn't seen him.
For example, we run sixties.
For us, if you look at, we'rethe fastest team in NCAA
baseball.
We're regardless of division.
So if you can't run below aseven that's a you can do other
things.
(08:23):
You gotta cover for that.
And then you go out and you runa six, six or something.
Now all of a sudden our eyeslight up then, throwing
velocity.
And so everything really ismetric based.
And that's where we talk aboutthe showcase guy.
So you may have a guy that showsup, he runs a six five, he
throws 92 exit velocity, 97, ahundred, yeah.
(08:44):
Everything's there.
And then you go put'em in thegame and you're like, oh.
Then you may have the guy thatruns the seven two that throws
78 miles an hour across theinfield.
And then you watch him play andhe's in the right place backing
up.
He is hitting the ball whereit's pitched.
He can handle the bat.
He lays down a drag bunt,'causethe third base one's back, his
(09:07):
baseball iq.
And you're like, Ooh, that dudeactually knows how to play
baseball.
Yeah.
Now we can get him here, we canmake him stronger.
We can make him faster.
He may not throw a hundred.
Yeah.
But we can get him where he is,a level to play'cause his
baseball iq and so we try togive them a chance to show what
(09:28):
they can do.
As you said though, vastmajority are not at the numbers
that are required to even get inthe conversation.
I think for some of'em they justenjoy going and playing against
some different people.
So I think it depends on yourreasoning, but it's always
(09:48):
really difficult to answer thatquestion.
Yeah, because I don't know howgood your son is'cause I hadn't
seen him.
But we're gonna know.
the other thing we alwaysinvite.
The other local, schools andstuff to come and then we've got
all the data and we give that tothem in order they can use that
(10:09):
to send to other schools.
And it's verified by us.
So we're trying to do everythingwe can.
to help them in their journeytowards trying to play college
baseball.
Fantastic.
and going back to what you weresaying, you don't wanna miss out
on Bartola Cologne and KevinUlus walking onto your field,
either that don't have the bodytype, I surely aren't gonna run
(10:29):
a right.
Six, six, and I would imaginethose numbers changed a little
bit for corner infielders andcatchers.
They changed for everything.
For us, we really, we want, wedon't want anybody that can't
run.
Yeah.
it doesn't matter if you hit 40home runs.
Now, if you hit 40 home runs,then we gotta think about it, so
there are always outliers, butwe would everybody be able to
(10:50):
run.
But we've got guys that can'trun here that play And are huge
contributors and they dodifferent things, but.
You can't teach speed, which isfunny'cause you know how as slow
as could be generally, mostcoaches recruit players that
were like them.
Thank goodness I recruit waybetter than me.
And for anybody out there that'swhen you hear coach talk about
(11:10):
60, it's 60 yard dash.
Tell me if I'm wrong with any ofthe 60 yard dash time.
Right under, under seven.
Talks a lot about.
How quickly you can movelaterally and how quickly you
can get to a ball in theoutfield not just running the
bases, but how much space youcan run up and get those gaps on
the infield.
Yeah, I mean there are so manymore tools.
Sixties, probably, a little moreantiquated with all the stuff
(11:32):
that we have access to, butright in a camp setting, being
able to get a large number ofpeople and get accurate data,
that's probably still one of thebetter ones to measure.
It's just, and these are sucheasy things for a family to get
their hands on now, to gettested a little bit is really a
smart idea, I would think.
Test your 60 yard dash with yourtrack coach.
(11:53):
If the baseball coach doesn'thave that ability to get, find a
cop in your neighborhood that'llcheck your speed on your
fastball if that's what yougotta do, but get radar, yeah.
what is there that mile per hourfor your pitchers that are that.
Yeah, he hits the strike zone.
He can paint that, he can paintthat strike zone and, but man,
he only throws, I don't know ifyeah, it's changed.
(12:15):
So like when we first started,actually he is, he's, golly, I
think he may be.
He's one of our top pitchers,but he was a high school kid.
big kid, six four, probably one90 coming outta high school, 82,
84.
But our mark and he could pitchand he pitched it and one of the
better, the high school programsin Texas and, and one, one in
(12:39):
that district, and, so we gothim, when he left.
Here he is.
9 2, 9 4.
Nice.
but you Wow.
Head.
Yeah.
You could see that.
just he needed to get stronger.
Yeah.
He had the body, the arm worked,all that stuff.
Since we've gotten morescholarships and we've gotten
better, and I hate this, this isstill one of the things that I
(13:05):
go back and.
Go, but obviously those guysaren't gonna hit as much.
So for high school guys now, wedon't have anybody that throws
slower.
90.
We got 20 guys that are 90 plus,they could all hit 90.
Yeah.
and then can throw strikes andpitch too, the numbers just
moved up and so even a highschool guy we'd locked to have
(13:28):
hit 90, they don't got a pitchat it, but hit it.
for righthander, now Lefthander,throw everything out the window.
I always tell lefties, You gotthe gold ticket and you didn't
wanna license it.
Yeah.
Left-handed.
You can throw 76 and if you canpitch, you got it.
But, and I hate that because.
Back in those days.
We've had five guys that werewalk-ons that were similar to
(13:51):
the guy I described.
Yeah.
that all got drafted, and so Iknow we can develop and I think
that's the strength of ourprogram, but it's just harder
when we don't have to take thatchance anymore.
A lot of that is a little bit ofvictim of our own success.
(14:11):
Yeah.
we don't as often as we used to,even though seeing somebody, so
if I see a six four string beanguy, it's throwing an 84 and go,
okay I can put 50 pounds on thatguy.
Easy.
And the arm works.
That would be somebody we'dprobably take a chance on still.
(14:33):
okay.
Just not, probably not anymoney.
It'd be like a recruited walk ontype guy.
How do you go about putting 10mile an hour on a kid?
Obviously the weight and thestrength making a difference,
but a lot of that's gotta belearning how to throw from your
lower half, right?
It is.
I think mechanics are part of itand then just, strength, playing
(14:56):
strength.
But we're still old school.
So all.
Pretty much every pitcher thatcomes in now has been doing some
type of weighted ball trainingor all that.
So we don't take it away from'embecause we don't, want to do
that.
But we have still found thebest.
(15:16):
It's just gradual.
And, Trent Baker, actually, hedid great last night in AA
start, was one of our guys outtahigh school.
He was that big old strong guythat was a 86, 88 guy.
He gained, he was by the end,towards the tail end of his
freshman fall year, he touchedsome nineties.
(15:37):
Then that spring he pitched at90.
Then the next year he jumped upa little bit to 92.
Then eventually when he left, hewas mid nineties and could pitch
And so that's a guy that's knockon wood, never had an arm
surgery, never had anything,which is super rare in today's
game.
so we found when you do theweighted ball, it does work.
(16:00):
There's no doubt.
But you tend to get a pretty bigjump.
With that big jump tends to comeinjuries.
Yeah.
and so just'cause your body'snot made and equipped yet to
handle it.
And so we found just longtossing and doing the regular
stuff, the old school stuff,we're gonna get it.
(16:21):
We just gotta be a little morepatient with it.
but we have found that has led.
To way less arm injuries.
We're really blessed, with thehealth of our staff, year after
year.
And I think a lot of that iswhat we do in the weight room,
but then more.
you know what I did when I was akid, I got up every morning at
(16:42):
nine o'clock, played, baseballwith my friends till lunch.
Went and ate lunch, went back,played till dinner, went and
back ate dinner.
Came back, played till dark, andI probably threw, I'm guessing,
six to 700 pitches a day.
Yeah.
Yep.
My arms never hurt because Iasked it to do that.
But, you don't see a lot ofSandlot games anymore.
(17:04):
I didn't hurt my arm till Ibecame a high school coach and I
was throwing BP every day and Iwasn't lifting and I wasn't in
shape and all of a sudden my,I'm throwing 200 ball at
practice and I couldn't lift myarm up anymore'cause I wasn't
doing it.
No, we still take our breaks.
what's a break look like foryour pitchers?
I would say break.
so we've got three segments.
We've got, fall, you've gotsummer and spring.
(17:27):
Those are the three segments wewant our pitchers to actively
participate in two of the three.
So we're not gonna, does thatmean on a mound throwing two out
three?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Two out three.
We're playing and getting afterit.
Okay.
And then, and the third, sowe'll generally take maybe a two
week break from not throwing atall.
(17:50):
And then we like to refer to itas active rest the next six
weeks.
So we're still going out andplaying some catch.
And, but we're not reallyletting it go long tossing any
of that stuff.
and then we start coming back,it's probably a month period of
building back up, of playingcatch.
(18:11):
and not getting on a mound.
Once we've been going for abouta month, then we'll start and we
start with 25 pitches to thenext week, 35 45.
We go up 10 or 15 and just gofrom there.
so maybe three.
And then we throw a lot too inbetween.
So when we get in the spring, soour pitchers touch the mound
(18:33):
every day.
Every day in between starts,it's 10 pitches, it may 70%, but
we're on it every day.
Technique still there?
Yeah.
Push off mic.
Still there through, yeah.
Different.
Different, intensity levels,we're not necessarily getting on
throwing a hundred percent everyday.
(18:54):
let's say I've got a 16-year-oldboy in my house that's a pitcher
and he's playing a hundred gamesin a year.
Take most of December off.
Oh gosh.
yeah, if he's playing fall,spring, and then he's played
like a hundred.
I would say summer and go play.
just wiffle ball even, whatever.
(19:14):
Just throwing stuff, playingcatch in the backyard with dad.
Throwing it against the wall.
Any of that stuff.
Do you need it, do you want themto have a week or two, like
between those seasons wherethey're just not picking up a
ball at all?
we do.
Okay.
I don't think the total rest canbe too long, and that's just
been our experience, but.
the body is an amazing thing.
(19:36):
And it generally does what youask it to do.
You just gotta continually toask it.
and train it to, oh, this iswhat you want me to do.
Yeah.
And it's hard not to look at aguy like Bob Gibson and Nolan
Ryan and go, those guys justthrew.
All the time they wereconstantly playing catch and
throwing a baseball.
(19:56):
And there's a reason they had 20plus year careers as pitchers.
And I think, one, the playerstoday are so much better
athletes.
Yeah.
I don't drive a real nice fancycar, but if I did, I can
imagine, if.
This one thing gets a littleoff.
It really affects theperformance of a super high
(20:19):
powered car.
We got a lot of super highpowered cars as athletes in all
the sports nowadays.
Yeah.
And so I do think, whereas theof a different generation, our
bodies just weren't in such goodshape and so something a little
off, we didn't even know it.
Whereas they're so good atshape, I do think that affects
(20:41):
it more.
Coach, you've been great.
I put you in a room or a fieldwith 300 parents who are all
trying to help their kid get tothat next level.
Is there a couple pieces ofadvice you want these parents to
understand as they start thatrecruiting journey?
Is there things that they needto really grasp as they start
this process?
The one thing, and this is sohard for parents, but it, having
(21:06):
been in it as long as I havechanges.
Changes in the players, changesin, in everything.
And obviously now parents are alot more involved than they were
say when I went.
It was like, all right, see ya,and off and figure it out
yourself.
And the reason is love, which isa great reason.
(21:29):
That's the reason all thesethings'cause parents love their
children and they want the verybest for their children.
but I still think again, andthat's the hardest thing I got.
My last one's graduating.
here in two weeks.
So she's off to college and, Igotta, we'll see how I handle
that, but, good.
(21:50):
I, you should, read my blog fromthat last night.
I got a daughter that's goingthrough it too, yeah.
I'll send it to you.
Yeah but we gotta let'em, it'sso hard to let.
Your kids fail.
Yeah.
it's the hardest thing as aparent to sit back and go, man,
I don't think, but they got to.
Yep.
and so I think you've gotta bethere to guide, because a lot of
(22:12):
times maybe they don't.
So for example, we're offeringyou a scholarship, okay?
And we're saying, Hey, we'regonna give you, we give actual
dollar amount, so we're gonnagive you$2,000.
School costs 20,000, you'regonna owe 18.
But parents do know somequestions to ask on that.
(22:33):
Okay, can I get academic now?
We're gonna tell you all thatwe're gonna try to get you as
much as we can.
But, I think being there to askthat.
the other thing, and parentssometimes when I am in front of
a group, they're like.
This is the part that's crazy.
So I've been doing it 30 years.
I've got 75% of our dudes thatI've coached at all different
(22:57):
schools come in wanting to majorin X and like I say, only about
25% end up majoring in that.
That's, so you wanna make sureyou're going to a good school
with a lot of differentopportunities.
But let's say you want to be anoceanographer.
Okay.
(23:18):
There aren't a lot of schoolsthat have that.
That's right.
But there's a really good chanceyou're gonna show up unless it's
just been a passion since you'vebeen five years old, you're pro.
You may not end up majoring inthat, so make sure they got some
other things at that school.
That interests you as well.
that, that's the biggest thingon the academics.
(23:39):
Choose a good school with a widevariety of majors because odds
are, I was a business major, Ididn't, I took business classes
like I hate this and I changed.
And ended up political science,which I'm really using.
But anyway, you're using it morethan you think.
Deal with all these kids andthese parents.
(23:59):
but be there to help guide.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day,you've gotta let'em go make a
decision.
It may be the wrong one.
Yeah.
it may.
and with the transfer portal,then get it right.
But I always say this.
To anybody if I were givenadvice.
Don't make this a biggerdecision than it is, but here's
(24:22):
the deal.
Once you make that decision,make it the right decision.
Yeah.
That's the biggest key.
Once you get there, get boughtin, and make it the right
decision.
Yeah.
That is the key.
And you seem like the type ofcoach that's got a line of guys
outside your office right nowwaiting to talk to you.
I've actually got one that'sfunny.
(24:44):
and they want to have arelationship with you that goes
beyond.
Bats and balls.
Yeah.
I think that's great.
And that's one thing I will saythe smartest thing I ever did
when we got to build newfacilities was, my office is in
the locker room along with ourother coaches.
Great.
So they do.
They're around me, a bunch.
And so they don't, they seeCoach Brooks on the field and
(25:07):
that's a little different guy.
Yes.
But they see goofy Coach Brooks,a lot more than they see Coach
Brooks on the field.
So they, they know, if the TexasRangers are playing bad, I'm
screaming at the tv, yeah.
Anyway Marcus Simeon stillhasn't broken 200.
No, gosh.
Get the ball out of the air.
(25:27):
He's dropping me crazy.
coach, it's been a fantasticconversation.
I hope you don't mind me callingyou a friend.
'cause I've learned so much andhad so much fun today and I hope
this was good for you.
Oh, it was, honored to be hereand thank you so much.
That's a wrap on this bonusepisode with Coach Kevin Brooks.
(25:47):
I hope you took as much from itas I did.
Whether it was insight into whatcoaches are really looking for,
or a reminder that fit,character and communication
still matter in the recruitingprocess.
I hope it motivated you and Ihope it motivated your son or
daughter.
If you found this helpful, makesure to subscribe.
Now I.
Because these bonus episodeswill soon be exclusively for
(26:10):
subscribers.
And don't forget, you can alwaysfind more tools, templates, and
weekly guidance for yourrecruiting
journey@coachmattrogers.com.
Thanks for listening, and we'llsee you next time on significant
Recruiting with Matt Rogers.
Welcome to SignificantRecruiting with Matt Rogers, the
bonus edition of the SignificantCoaching Podcast where we go
deeper into the recruiting sideof the game.
Today I'm joined again by CoachKevin Brooks, head baseball
coach at Angelo State, and oneof the most respected names in
Division two Baseball with over800 career wins and a national
championship under his belt.
(00:27):
Coach Brooks knows what he'slooking for in a recruit, and
today he breaks it down for us.
Before we get started, a quickreminder.
These significant recruitingbonus episodes will eventually
be for subscribers only, so ifyou're enjoying them, make sure
to subscribe today so you don'tmiss out.
And as always, visit coach mattrogers.com for free Tools, the
(00:47):
weekly newsletter, recruitingresources, blog posts, and your
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college athletes.
Alright, let's get after it.
Here's Coach Kevin Brookstalking recruiting.
Coach, thanks so much for beinga part of this my book's called
(01:09):
Significant Recruiting as acollege coach for so long, and
then I was a college Scout for10 years and I worked with about
4,000 families just onrecruiting and trying to get
their mind right.
The idea of significant for mewas.
Taking mere chance out of theequation.
There's a lot of coaches that'llsay, Matt, if they're good
enough, somebody's gonna findthem.
(01:30):
I wanna remove that from kidsbecause I don't want'em just
playing baseball.
I want'em going somewhere wherethere's a coach they love.
There's an academic program thatcan help them with their future.
So for me, that significance isreally having a plan and a
strategy to do it right for youas an individual.
You and I have both seen plentyof kids that were good enough to
play division one, but reallywhere they were gonna blossom
(01:50):
was D two or NI or D three,because they needed a smaller
environment.
They needed that one-on-onecoaching.
They needed more of that familyatmosphere.
Do you have some corephilosophies on how you wanna
recruit every year?
I would say our corephilosophies are, what type of
player we want.
That's the biggest thing.
But on how I think it comes backagain to relationships.
(02:14):
And so also where we arelocated, okay, so we're three
hours away from anywhere inTexas.
And so when we go recruiting,it's a day.
So if we go in the spring,that's a day we miss practice,
with our current players.
Summer wise we're gone for fouror five days at a time, but we
(02:38):
do not get as much personalevaluation as we would like to
make decisions upon thesepeople, and for me, as I've
gotten older, unfortunately alot of the people I have relied
upon throughout my career haveeither retired or passed away,
Yeah.
my connections.
But it's always become peoplethat you trust, word of mouth,
(03:04):
and that goes a long way, Thesame people that have, helped us
with really good players.
And so that's the biggest thing.
Then obviously we go to gamesand we see player X and go, Ooh,
really like him, talk to hiscoach, et cetera.
(03:25):
And maybe he becomes somebodytoo.
And then the third way we dorun, showcase camps.
For players that are interestedin Angelo State, come, we're
gonna do the pro tryout deal,but we're gonna play games too.
'cause we wanna see you play.
Love that.
Because a lot of guys that aregood baseball players that are
(03:48):
not good showcase guys.
Yeah.
Good showcase guy, but maybe notthat good a player and but they
can get around us.
Coaches and Sierra campus, allthat stuff.
I would say on our roster we'llprobably get five guys a year
from that.
I'm assuming you carry, whatabout 40, right?
(04:08):
About 40.
We're hoping, maybe get it downto 35, but, we're at 43 this
year.
Are you a 50 50 guy?
Pitchers in, PL in?
Yes.
we want everyday guys, wegenerally don't want more than
20.
So we won't be too deepeverywhere.
three catchers, and then youknow you're gonna have some
injuries.
So you always want to be able toenter squad, which that
(04:30):
requires, you have at least 16.
Eight and eight.
and then 20 pitchers.
Okay.
And having that extra four orfive that makes up for those
injuries and Right.
Class time that may, you maylose.
And yes, being able to scrimmagewhen you want a scrimmage and
always having that, having thebodies right and the arms.
Absolutely.
Yep.
I love that.
(04:51):
Let's dive into camps.
Okay.
I feel like I am constantlytalking to moms and dads about
camps.
'cause my philosophy is.
You go to a camp for one of tworeasons.
You either go to a camp becauseyou know they're really good
teachers and you're gonna get,you're gonna get better.
You're gonna learn how to playthe game, and you're gonna get
(05:12):
better hitting, fielding,throwing the ball.
The second reason is you reallylike that school.
You can see yourself going toschool and getting education
there, and you want to putyourself in front of that
coaching staff.
Get coached by them.
See if there's a relationshipthere.
See if there's something theylike.
See if you can learn somethingand build some answers.
(05:34):
How many kids will come to yourID camps?
we try to cap it at 60.
Okay.
so that way, so we have a uniquesetup where we go do, we've got
a big old intramural fieldbehind.
Nice.
And we do all the metric stuffthere.
And then we play a game with twoteams.
(05:54):
So we try four teams of 15 is,and anyway, so that's we're
about 60, that it's, it seemsideal.
I had a mother and father, theywere talking to me about helping
their younger son with beingrecruited for baseball.
And they go, we, a kid was latein his junior year.
Nobody was talking to him.
Good player.
(06:15):
And mom and dad go, we don'tknow what the problem is.
Our other son got an offer atthe end of his sophomore year
and that was it, and I go how,tell me how the offer worked.
He go we went to the camp atUniversity of Louisville.
And he was walking off the fieldand the coach came up and said,
Hey, we're gonna offer you.
we're gonna pay half education,half baseball and we're gonna
take care of you.
And that was it.
And that's where he went.
(06:36):
And I go, mom, how many otherkids were at that camp?
And she goes, Lela, she lookedat her husband and she goes
about a hundred and 160, Ithink.
And I go, how many other kidsgot that same offer?
And they looked at each otherand I go, as far as we know, our
son was the only one.
I go, that's what you have tounderstand about recruiting
right.
You gotta understand there'sonly so many kids that are gonna
(06:57):
get an offer at a camp, if any,at all.
Because I would imagine of that60 that come to your camp, there
might be 25 that you're like,I'm not sure they could play
dead in the Cowboy movie, letalone play baseball at our
level.
You're generally pulling asidetwo, maybe three, five.
If five, if it's great.
How are you and your staffdealing with 60 kids?
(07:19):
Because how long will a camplast?
we start at 11.
We're generally done.
We're done when we're done.
But generally anywhere four tofive o'clock.
So you're spending five to sixhours with these kids?
Six kids.
Talk to me like a parent that'sgoing through this for the first
time.
What can I expect from avisibility standpoint for my kid
(07:40):
in terms of you and your staff,the recruiters of your program?
Working with my kid, gettingtheir eyes on'em and getting a
true valuation in five hours.
and that's always such, I getthose questions right?
When people call,'cause they'relike, is that just a money grab
or Yeah.
Whatever.
And I'm like we do make moneyoff of it.
However, we really are lookingfor players.
(08:02):
Now is your son.
Good enough.
And I don't know the answer'cause I hadn't seen him.
For example, we run sixties.
For us, if you look at, we'rethe fastest team in NCAA
baseball.
We're regardless of division.
So if you can't run below aseven that's a you can do other
things.
(08:23):
You gotta cover for that.
And then you go out and you runa six, six or something.
Now all of a sudden our eyeslight up then, throwing
velocity.
And so everything really ismetric based.
And that's where we talk aboutthe showcase guy.
So you may have a guy that showsup, he runs a six five, he
throws 92 exit velocity, 97, ahundred, yeah.
(08:44):
Everything's there.
And then you go put'em in thegame and you're like, oh.
Then you may have the guy thatruns the seven two that throws
78 miles an hour across theinfield.
And then you watch him play andhe's in the right place backing
up.
He is hitting the ball whereit's pitched.
He can handle the bat.
He lays down a drag bunt,'causethe third base one's back, his
(09:07):
baseball iq.
And you're like, Ooh, that dudeactually knows how to play
baseball.
Yeah.
Now we can get him here, we canmake him stronger.
We can make him faster.
He may not throw a hundred.
Yeah.
But we can get him where he is,a level to play'cause his
baseball iq and so we try togive them a chance to show what
(09:28):
they can do.
As you said though, vastmajority are not at the numbers
that are required to even get inthe conversation.
I think for some of'em they justenjoy going and playing against
some different people.
So I think it depends on yourreasoning, but it's always
(09:48):
really difficult to answer thatquestion.
Yeah, because I don't know howgood your son is'cause I hadn't
seen him.
But we're gonna know.
the other thing we alwaysinvite.
The other local, schools andstuff to come and then we've got
all the data and we give that tothem in order they can use that
(10:09):
to send to other schools.
And it's verified by us.
So we're trying to do everythingwe can.
to help them in their journeytowards trying to play college
baseball.
Fantastic.
and going back to what you weresaying, you don't wanna miss out
on Bartola Cologne and KevinUlus walking onto your field,
either that don't have the bodytype, I surely aren't gonna run
(10:29):
a right.
Six, six, and I would imaginethose numbers changed a little
bit for corner infielders andcatchers.
They changed for everything.
For us, we really, we want, wedon't want anybody that can't
run.
Yeah.
it doesn't matter if you hit 40home runs.
Now, if you hit 40 home runs,then we gotta think about it, so
there are always outliers, butwe would everybody be able to
(10:50):
run.
But we've got guys that can'trun here that play And are huge
contributors and they dodifferent things, but.
You can't teach speed, which isfunny'cause you know how as slow
as could be generally, mostcoaches recruit players that
were like them.
Thank goodness I recruit waybetter than me.
And for anybody out there that'swhen you hear coach talk about
(11:10):
60, it's 60 yard dash.
Tell me if I'm wrong with any ofthe 60 yard dash time.
Right under, under seven.
Talks a lot about.
How quickly you can movelaterally and how quickly you
can get to a ball in theoutfield not just running the
bases, but how much space youcan run up and get those gaps on
the infield.
Yeah, I mean there are so manymore tools.
Sixties, probably, a little moreantiquated with all the stuff
(11:32):
that we have access to, butright in a camp setting, being
able to get a large number ofpeople and get accurate data,
that's probably still one of thebetter ones to measure.
It's just, and these are sucheasy things for a family to get
their hands on now, to gettested a little bit is really a
smart idea, I would think.
Test your 60 yard dash with yourtrack coach.
(11:53):
If the baseball coach doesn'thave that ability to get, find a
cop in your neighborhood that'llcheck your speed on your
fastball if that's what yougotta do, but get radar, yeah.
what is there that mile per hourfor your pitchers that are that.
Yeah, he hits the strike zone.
He can paint that, he can paintthat strike zone and, but man,
he only throws, I don't know ifyeah, it's changed.
(12:15):
So like when we first started,actually he is, he's, golly, I
think he may be.
He's one of our top pitchers,but he was a high school kid.
big kid, six four, probably one90 coming outta high school, 82,
84.
But our mark and he could pitchand he pitched it and one of the
better, the high school programsin Texas and, and one, one in
(12:39):
that district, and, so we gothim, when he left.
Here he is.
9 2, 9 4.
Nice.
but you Wow.
Head.
Yeah.
You could see that.
just he needed to get stronger.
Yeah.
He had the body, the arm worked,all that stuff.
Since we've gotten morescholarships and we've gotten
better, and I hate this, this isstill one of the things that I
(13:05):
go back and.
Go, but obviously those guysaren't gonna hit as much.
So for high school guys now, wedon't have anybody that throws
slower.
90.
We got 20 guys that are 90 plus,they could all hit 90.
Yeah.
and then can throw strikes andpitch too, the numbers just
moved up and so even a highschool guy we'd locked to have
(13:28):
hit 90, they don't got a pitchat it, but hit it.
for righthander, now Lefthander,throw everything out the window.
I always tell lefties, You gotthe gold ticket and you didn't
wanna license it.
Yeah.
Left-handed.
You can throw 76 and if you canpitch, you got it.
But, and I hate that because.
Back in those days.
We've had five guys that werewalk-ons that were similar to
(13:51):
the guy I described.
Yeah.
that all got drafted, and so Iknow we can develop and I think
that's the strength of ourprogram, but it's just harder
when we don't have to take thatchance anymore.
A lot of that is a little bit ofvictim of our own success.
(14:11):
Yeah.
we don't as often as we used to,even though seeing somebody, so
if I see a six four string beanguy, it's throwing an 84 and go,
okay I can put 50 pounds on thatguy.
Easy.
And the arm works.
That would be somebody we'dprobably take a chance on still.
(14:33):
okay.
Just not, probably not anymoney.
It'd be like a recruited walk ontype guy.
How do you go about putting 10mile an hour on a kid?
Obviously the weight and thestrength making a difference,
but a lot of that's gotta belearning how to throw from your
lower half, right?
It is.
I think mechanics are part of itand then just, strength, playing
(14:56):
strength.
But we're still old school.
So all.
Pretty much every pitcher thatcomes in now has been doing some
type of weighted ball trainingor all that.
So we don't take it away from'embecause we don't, want to do
that.
But we have still found thebest.
(15:16):
It's just gradual.
And, Trent Baker, actually, hedid great last night in AA
start, was one of our guys outtahigh school.
He was that big old strong guythat was a 86, 88 guy.
He gained, he was by the end,towards the tail end of his
freshman fall year, he touchedsome nineties.
(15:37):
Then that spring he pitched at90.
Then the next year he jumped upa little bit to 92.
Then eventually when he left, hewas mid nineties and could pitch
And so that's a guy that's knockon wood, never had an arm
surgery, never had anything,which is super rare in today's
game.
so we found when you do theweighted ball, it does work.
(16:00):
There's no doubt.
But you tend to get a pretty bigjump.
With that big jump tends to comeinjuries.
Yeah.
and so just'cause your body'snot made and equipped yet to
handle it.
And so we found just longtossing and doing the regular
stuff, the old school stuff,we're gonna get it.
(16:21):
We just gotta be a little morepatient with it.
but we have found that has led.
To way less arm injuries.
We're really blessed, with thehealth of our staff, year after
year.
And I think a lot of that iswhat we do in the weight room,
but then more.
you know what I did when I was akid, I got up every morning at
(16:42):
nine o'clock, played, baseballwith my friends till lunch.
Went and ate lunch, went back,played till dinner, went and
back ate dinner.
Came back, played till dark, andI probably threw, I'm guessing,
six to 700 pitches a day.
Yeah.
Yep.
My arms never hurt because Iasked it to do that.
But, you don't see a lot ofSandlot games anymore.
(17:04):
I didn't hurt my arm till Ibecame a high school coach and I
was throwing BP every day and Iwasn't lifting and I wasn't in
shape and all of a sudden my,I'm throwing 200 ball at
practice and I couldn't lift myarm up anymore'cause I wasn't
doing it.
No, we still take our breaks.
what's a break look like foryour pitchers?
I would say break.
so we've got three segments.
We've got, fall, you've gotsummer and spring.
(17:27):
Those are the three segments wewant our pitchers to actively
participate in two of the three.
So we're not gonna, does thatmean on a mound throwing two out
three?
Yeah.
Yeah.
Two out three.
We're playing and getting afterit.
Okay.
And then, and the third, sowe'll generally take maybe a two
week break from not throwing atall.
(17:50):
And then we like to refer to itas active rest the next six
weeks.
So we're still going out andplaying some catch.
And, but we're not reallyletting it go long tossing any
of that stuff.
and then we start coming back,it's probably a month period of
building back up, of playingcatch.
(18:11):
and not getting on a mound.
Once we've been going for abouta month, then we'll start and we
start with 25 pitches to thenext week, 35 45.
We go up 10 or 15 and just gofrom there.
so maybe three.
And then we throw a lot too inbetween.
So when we get in the spring, soour pitchers touch the mound
(18:33):
every day.
Every day in between starts,it's 10 pitches, it may 70%, but
we're on it every day.
Technique still there?
Yeah.
Push off mic.
Still there through, yeah.
Different.
Different, intensity levels,we're not necessarily getting on
throwing a hundred percent everyday.
(18:54):
let's say I've got a 16-year-oldboy in my house that's a pitcher
and he's playing a hundred gamesin a year.
Take most of December off.
Oh gosh.
yeah, if he's playing fall,spring, and then he's played
like a hundred.
I would say summer and go play.
just wiffle ball even, whatever.
(19:14):
Just throwing stuff, playingcatch in the backyard with dad.
Throwing it against the wall.
Any of that stuff.
Do you need it, do you want themto have a week or two, like
between those seasons wherethey're just not picking up a
ball at all?
we do.
Okay.
I don't think the total rest canbe too long, and that's just
been our experience, but.
the body is an amazing thing.
(19:36):
And it generally does what youask it to do.
You just gotta continually toask it.
and train it to, oh, this iswhat you want me to do.
Yeah.
And it's hard not to look at aguy like Bob Gibson and Nolan
Ryan and go, those guys justthrew.
All the time they wereconstantly playing catch and
throwing a baseball.
(19:56):
And there's a reason they had 20plus year careers as pitchers.
And I think, one, the playerstoday are so much better
athletes.
Yeah.
I don't drive a real nice fancycar, but if I did, I can
imagine, if.
This one thing gets a littleoff.
It really affects theperformance of a super high
(20:19):
powered car.
We got a lot of super highpowered cars as athletes in all
the sports nowadays.
Yeah.
And so I do think, whereas theof a different generation, our
bodies just weren't in such goodshape and so something a little
off, we didn't even know it.
Whereas they're so good atshape, I do think that affects
(20:41):
it more.
Coach, you've been great.
I put you in a room or a fieldwith 300 parents who are all
trying to help their kid get tothat next level.
Is there a couple pieces ofadvice you want these parents to
understand as they start thatrecruiting journey?
Is there things that they needto really grasp as they start
this process?
The one thing, and this is sohard for parents, but it, having
(21:06):
been in it as long as I havechanges.
Changes in the players, changesin, in everything.
And obviously now parents are alot more involved than they were
say when I went.
It was like, all right, see ya,and off and figure it out
yourself.
And the reason is love, which isa great reason.
(21:29):
That's the reason all thesethings'cause parents love their
children and they want the verybest for their children.
but I still think again, andthat's the hardest thing I got.
My last one's graduating.
here in two weeks.
So she's off to college and, Igotta, we'll see how I handle
that, but, good.
(21:50):
I, you should, read my blog fromthat last night.
I got a daughter that's goingthrough it too, yeah.
I'll send it to you.
Yeah but we gotta let'em, it'sso hard to let.
Your kids fail.
Yeah.
it's the hardest thing as aparent to sit back and go, man,
I don't think, but they got to.
Yep.
and so I think you've gotta bethere to guide, because a lot of
(22:12):
times maybe they don't.
So for example, we're offeringyou a scholarship, okay?
And we're saying, Hey, we'regonna give you, we give actual
dollar amount, so we're gonnagive you$2,000.
School costs 20,000, you'regonna owe 18.
But parents do know somequestions to ask on that.
(22:33):
Okay, can I get academic now?
We're gonna tell you all thatwe're gonna try to get you as
much as we can.
But, I think being there to askthat.
the other thing, and parentssometimes when I am in front of
a group, they're like.
This is the part that's crazy.
So I've been doing it 30 years.
I've got 75% of our dudes thatI've coached at all different
(22:57):
schools come in wanting to majorin X and like I say, only about
25% end up majoring in that.
That's, so you wanna make sureyou're going to a good school
with a lot of differentopportunities.
But let's say you want to be anoceanographer.
Okay.
(23:18):
There aren't a lot of schoolsthat have that.
That's right.
But there's a really good chanceyou're gonna show up unless it's
just been a passion since you'vebeen five years old, you're pro.
You may not end up majoring inthat, so make sure they got some
other things at that school.
That interests you as well.
that, that's the biggest thingon the academics.
(23:39):
Choose a good school with a widevariety of majors because odds
are, I was a business major, Ididn't, I took business classes
like I hate this and I changed.
And ended up political science,which I'm really using.
But anyway, you're using it morethan you think.
Deal with all these kids andthese parents.
(23:59):
but be there to help guide.
Yeah.
But at the end of the day,you've gotta let'em go make a
decision.
It may be the wrong one.
Yeah.
it may.
and with the transfer portal,then get it right.
But I always say this.
To anybody if I were givenadvice.
Don't make this a biggerdecision than it is, but here's
(24:22):
the deal.
Once you make that decision,make it the right decision.
Yeah.
That's the biggest key.
Once you get there, get boughtin, and make it the right
decision.
Yeah.
That is the key.
And you seem like the type ofcoach that's got a line of guys
outside your office right nowwaiting to talk to you.
I've actually got one that'sfunny.
(24:44):
and they want to have arelationship with you that goes
beyond.
Bats and balls.
Yeah.
I think that's great.
And that's one thing I will saythe smartest thing I ever did
when we got to build newfacilities was, my office is in
the locker room along with ourother coaches.
Great.
So they do.
They're around me, a bunch.
And so they don't, they seeCoach Brooks on the field and
(25:07):
that's a little different guy.
Yes.
But they see goofy Coach Brooks,a lot more than they see Coach
Brooks on the field.
So they, they know, if the TexasRangers are playing bad, I'm
screaming at the tv, yeah.
Anyway Marcus Simeon stillhasn't broken 200.
No, gosh.
Get the ball out of the air.
(25:27):
He's dropping me crazy.
coach, it's been a fantasticconversation.
I hope you don't mind me callingyou a friend.
'cause I've learned so much andhad so much fun today and I hope
this was good for you.
Oh, it was, honored to be hereand thank you so much.
That's a wrap on this bonusepisode with Coach Kevin Brooks.
(25:47):
I hope you took as much from itas I did.
Whether it was insight into whatcoaches are really looking for,
or a reminder that fit,character and communication
still matter in the recruitingprocess.
I hope it motivated you and Ihope it motivated your son or
daughter.
If you found this helpful, makesure to subscribe.
Now I.
Because these bonus episodeswill soon be exclusively for
(26:10):
subscribers.
And don't forget, you can alwaysfind more tools, templates, and
weekly guidance for yourrecruiting
journey@coachmattrogers.com.
Thanks for listening, and we'llsee you next time on significant
Recruiting with Matt Rogers.
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